HOLLIDAYSBURG — A plan to mine coal near the Muleshoe Reservoir could net $10 million to $12 million for Hollidaysburg Borough over a span of 10 to 15 years, if a plan to allow RES Coal to mine the metallurgical coal is approved.

RES Coal engineer Easton Elkin presented the plan last week to the Hollidaysburg Water Authority.

The Muleshoe Reservoir, located between Cresson and Foot of Ten off old state Route 22, is Hollidaysburg’s main water supply. Mining the coal would require the approval by the water authority, the state Game Commission and state Department of Environmental Protection.

According to the presentation, the mine would encompass 128 acres. The land surface is owned by the Game Commission, while the mineral rights are owned by Hollidaysburg Borough. The project would include another 21.1 acres of land, of which Hollidaysburg owns both the surface and mineral rights — bringing the total proposed mine up to 149.1 acres.

The type of coal in the Muleshoe Reservoir area, and much of western Pennsylvania, is metallurgical coal, which is needed in steel manufacturing, Elkin said, noting it would not be burned as fuel.

To protect Hollidaysburg’s water, Elkin said RES Coal would obtain a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

According to the EPA, this permit contains “limits on what you can discharge, monitoring and reporting requirements, and other provisions to ensure that the discharge does not hurt water quality or people’s health.”

Elkin gave the authority an outline for the project, saying getting all of the permitting necessary from the borough, the Game Commission, DEP and EPA would take at least two years.

Mining would take about 10 years with reclamation of the land adding on another five years, Elkin said. If everything went to plan, the project would wrap up in the 2040s.

“We’ll be doing reclamation as we go,” RES Coal Vice President Gil Widnhofer said. “So that when we’re done on coal, you generally only have just a few months of work to do unless we have to finish in the wintertime.”

The borough’s main concern is maintaining the watershed, said Rick Pope, Hollidaysburg director of community facilities and water operations.

“But the DEP is the end all, be all,” he added.

While no action was taken at the meeting, Pope said it would be discussed again at the authority’s meeting on May 16.

Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.